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Mimih Spirit The mimih spirit exists in a realm that runs parallel to and mirrors many facets of human life, demonstrating the deep sense of time and place understood by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Such spirits feature importantly in relation to Aboriginal spirituality, cosmology, social and moral tales Read more…

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Kunkaninj (Digging Stick) Kunkaninj (digging stick) is used to dig for yams and for finding long-neck turtles, but is also an important Duwa moiety totemic ancestor. It shares the same songline as barlangu (shark) and wankurr (sacred Mardayin ceremonial dilly bag). Kunkarninj are the digging sticks that created the fresh water Read more…

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Ngalkodjek Yawkyawk This artwork depicts the Ngalkodjek Yawkyawk of Barrihdjowkkeng country. “This story is very old. That old man [my father Crusoe Kuningbal] when he was alive, told that story to me, to all of us. He told us about the yawkyawk (mermaid) spirit women called Ngalkodjek who lives in the Read more…

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Ngalkodjek Yawkyawk This artwork depicts the Ngalkodjek Yawkyawk of Barrihdjowkkeng country. “This story is very old. That old man [my father Crusoe Kuningbal] when he was alive, told that story to me, to all of us. He told us about the yawkyawk (mermaid) spirit women called Ngalkodjek who lives in the Read more…

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Mun-dirra (fish fence) Mun-dirra, in Burarra language, means “fish fence”. Mun-dirra were traditionally made by men using coastal sedge grass called gurdagarra and were designed to fence in schools of fish in ocean shallows or riverbeds. They were used in conjunction with conical traps, called an-gujechiya, which are woven with mirlarl, a hardy jungle vine, and burdaga, Read more…

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Yawkyawk Yawkyawk is a word in the Kunwinjku/Kunwok language of Western Arnhem Land meaning ‘young woman’ and ‘young woman spirit being’. The different groups of Kunwinjku people (one of the Eastern dialect groups call themselves Kuninjku) each have Yawkyawk mythologies, which relate to specific locations in clan estates. These mythologies Read more…

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